Iran Shuns Frankfurt Book Fair Over Salman Rushdie Invitation

Salman Rushdie was made subject of a fatwa calling for his
killing in 1988, after his novel The Satanic Verses allegedly
depicted prophet Muhammad irreverently.

THE GUARDIAN: Republic calls for other Muslim nations to join boycott after ‘person who is hated by Islamic world’ invited as guest speaker

Iran has announced that it will boycott next week’s Frankfurt book fair after organisers invited the author Salman Rushdie, whom Iranian scholars said should be killed, as a guest speaker. The foreign ministry said the fair had, “under the pretext of freedom of expression, invited a person who is hated in the Islamic world and create the opportunity for Salman Rushdie ... to make a speech”.

It said the Islamic republic “strongly protests” Rushdie’s appearance and had decided against participating in the fair, which is one of the world’s largest such events. The ministry called on other Muslim nations to join its boycott.

For his part, deputy culture minister Abbas Salehi said: “Fair officials chose the theme of freedom of expression, but they invited someone who has insulted our beliefs.” » | AFP in Tehran | Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Publishers Seek New Talent in Arab World
THE GUARDIAN: Western publishers are launching a drive to tap the Arab world for new stars, hoping to bridge the language gap with more than 200 million native Arabic speakers - and make money from selling books.

Bloomsbury announced at the Frankfurt Book Fair yesterday that it is to launch a new Arabic-language publishing house, Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, in partnership with the Gulf state. "The emphasis so far in Qatar has been on literacy, and our second challenge is how to move from literacy to literature to create a culture," said Abdel-Rahman Azzam, a spokesman for Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, the emir's consort and the chair of the Qatar Foundation.

The venture hopes to find new talent to build on the success of Egypt's Alaa Al-Aswany and Afghanistan-born Khaled Hosseini, whose respective novels The Yacoubian Building and The Kite Runner have been international bestsellers.

Azzam said the Arabic literary world was on the cusp of a boom similar to that enjoyed by India, home of this year's Booker prize winner, Aravind Adiga.

Western interest in Arabic literature has been growing despite a paucity of published new works. Arabic is the fifth-most spoken language worldwide, with 206 million native speakers. Many feel that globalisation and the domination of English have negatively affected their native tongue. But Gulf oil and gas wealth - and the competitive urge to create and buy signature international brands - has opened up possibilities. Publishers Seek New Talent in Arab World >>> Alison Flood in Frankfurt and Ian Black | Thursday, October 16, 2008

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